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Scottish Agenda: Boom or bust? Depends on who you talk to

HOLD the front page. According to the Scottish executive, our economy is finally outperforming the rest of the UK. All right, it is only by a tiny fraction and for a three-month period, but surely it is enough to spark a celebration? Hang on a minute. According to the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI), we are doing nothing of the kind. According to the economic research unit, Scotland is lagging behind our chums down south and the prospects for the rest of the year are not good.

Now it was not very nice of the FAI to steal deputy first minister Nicol Stephen’s thunder. Up until their intervention, he was having a jolly old time while the first minister was in the United States. Stephen hailed the figures as “very good news”, failing to add the obvious “because Jack’s away and I get all the credit”.